The
IOLA REGISTER
TENNIS Fillies dust off the rackets See B1
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
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Sticking Together
Merger seen as ‘doable’ By STEVEN SCHWARTZ steven@iolaregister.com
Courtesy Photo
Leah McDaniel, left, and her sister, Abigail, always have big smiles on their faces when they’re together, according to their grandmother, Cheryl Rohr.
Family supports each other in daughter’s fight By KAYLA BANZET kayla@iolaregister.com
Just like any proud grandmother, Cheryl Rohr thumbs through the photos of her grandchildren stored on her digital camera. She stops at the one where twin baby girls are eating bright blue birthday cake. “This was at the girls’ first birthday party,” Rohr said. “Leah was able to get off the ventilator that day for an hour and the first thing she got to eat was icing.” Leah and Abigail McDaniel were born July 20, 2012, to Jimmie and Amanda (Converse) McDaniel in Tahlequah, Okla. Amanda is an Iola native and 2000 graduate from Iola High School. While Abigail was born in perfect health, Leah was found to have hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a rare congenital heart disorder where the left side of the
heart is not fully developed. It is fatal if left untreated. Immediately after the girls’ birth, Jimmie, Amanda and oldest daughter, Katie, now 10, were thrown into a whirlwind. Leah was flown to Children’s Hospital of St. Francis in Tulsa the night she was born. She spent the next 2½ months going through eight major surgeries. On Oct. 14, she had a heart transplant in St. Louis. Rohr said the family was able to be in their own home for the first time on Dec. 2, almost six months after the twins were born. Although it was a relief to return home, difficult times still lay ahead. Leah must be watched every minute and relies on a ventilator to breathe. Initially, she was fed through a small tube in her belly. “Jimmie and Amanda have to take turns staying up with her,” Rohr said. Amanda stays home with Leah and her sisters full time. Jimmie can work only part time so he can come home and take over the caretaking responsibilities so See TOGETHER | Page A5
Iola City Administrator Carl Slaugh has been playing the middle man between Iola Fire Department workers and Allen County Emergency personnel in efforts to smooth out any wrinkles in the EMS merger between the two entities. “We’ve got to make accommodations,” Slaugh said. “There are still a lot of issues to work out.” He said he has discussed multiple topics with both sides. Concerns include the difference of pay scales between the city and county, work shifts (the city works a 24-hour shift, the county a 48hour shift), facilities, revenue and certification requirements for the workers. According to the city’s discussions, Slaugh said “everybody will have to be trained See MERGER | Page A5
Start of school delayed at Humboldt HUMBOLDT — School will start for USD 258 students on Friday, one day later than originally planned. The start of school was delayed because of an unexpected, last-minute Internet issue that affects the district’s content filtering system, which is required by law, according to USD 258’s statement.
Mulch a benefit of pipeline work By BOB JOHNSON bob@iolaregister.com
Allen County Landfill has a growing pile of chopped wood mulch, free for the taking. “We’ll even load it up for people,” Bill King, director of Public Works, told commissioners Tuesday morning. “They bring out a pickup loaded with trash, we’ll fill up the truck with mulch when they leave.” The mulch is from brush a crew is clearing in what will be the pathway for the new 36-inch Enbridge crude oil pipeline through Allen and adjoining counties. “They’re cutting up in Linn and northern Bourbon County right now,” King said, which is resulting in a couple of loads a day of both mulch and tree limbs being carried to the landfill. Limbs will be burned periodically, as will what mulch isn’t claimed by area residents. King anticipates daily hauls to the landfill will increase when the crew gets closer and the disposal journeys aren’t so long. U.S. Pipeline will put down the Enbridge line, which is expected to cost $3.2 billion in construction over the 600 miles from Flanagan, Ill., to Cushing, Okla., where there is a massive storage facility.
Once oil arrives there, from fields in Montana, the Dakotas and western Canada, it will be redirected to refineries. To date, King said Enbridge and companies working with it had gone out of their way to be cordial. “They’ve kept us on top of what they plan to do and when,” he said. When pipeline construction reaches Allen County, King will monitor cuts of rock roads and borings under hard-surfaced thoroughfares. Also, the pipeline will be taken under creeks and the Neosho River, just north of the U.S. 169 bridge north of Chanute. Construction of the pipeline will have security issues. Enbridge officials told the Register earlier that the company wanted to ensure that onlookers, welcome at a distance, would be safe from heavy equipment. Also, the company wants to keep resources secure. Area law enforcement officers have been contacted by a security company that is putting together a detail to watch over construction zones, day and night. KING noted four miles of hard-surfaced Delaware Road, starting five miles east of Humboldt at what popularly is known as the Zillah See MULCH | Page A5
Vol. 115, No. 210
Register/Bob Johnson
Jullea Decker awaits an answer from one of the third-graders she teaches at McKinley Elementary School.
Fulfilling a little girl’s dream By BOB JOHNSON bob@iolaregister.com
Many little girls dream about being dancers, cheerleaders and teachers. Jullea Decker, new thirdgrade teacher at McKinley Elementary, fits the trifecta to a tee. She danced for South Street Dance Company and was a member of the cheer and dance squads at Allen Community College. At Emporia State University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in elemen-
tary education last May, Decker was on the Stingers dance squad, and moved into a leadership role as captain of the team her second year. Meanwhile, a career in education wasn’t her immediate choice. “I was planning on majors in psychology and then pharmacy before deciding on education,” Decker said Monday afternoon, minutes after a covey of rambunctious students departed her McKinley classroom. 75 Cents
Dancing with South Street helped in her decision to switch her major to education, she said. In her later years at the studio Decker took on a teaching role with younger students, and as her college career unfolded, that experience helped her decide that teaching was what she wanted to do. Having been active through her growing-up years also is an advantage for Decker, 23. See DREAM | Page A5
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